Section 69: Indecent photographs of children: England and Wales
479.Subsection (2) of this section amends section 1B(1)(b) of the Protection of Children Act 1978 (the 1978 Act) to include members of the Secret Intelligence Service in the defence from prosecution for an offence under section 1(1)(a) of the 1978 Act, i.e. making an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child, if it was necessary for him or her to do so in the exercise of any of the functions of that Service.
480.Subsection (3) of this section amends section 7 of the 1978 Act to extend the definition of “photograph” to include derivatives of photographs, such as tracings or other forms of data. As a result, references to a photograph in the 1978 Act will include tracings or other images, whether made by electronic or other means, that are not in themselves photographs or pseudo-photographs (as defined in the 1978 Act) but which are derived from the whole or part of a photograph or pseudo-photograph, or a combination of either or both. This amendment will mean that an offence under section 1 (indecent photographs of children) of the 1978 Act, will cover derivatives of indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs, alongside indecent photographs and pseudo-photographs themselves. These derivatives include line-traced and computer traced images, for example, pencil traced images using tracing paper or computer traced images of photographs taken on a mobile phone.
481.The definition in section 7 of the 1978 Act also extends to the offence in section 160 of the 1988 Act relating to possession of indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of a child.
482.Subsection (4) of this section amends a minor drafting error in section 7(9)(b) of the 1978 Act.
